


Break me, Hate me, Touch me, Hold me, Kiss me, Love me...

by KillThemWithCandy



Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: And I stole some of Spidey's villains, Angst, Emotional Rollercoaster, Fluff, M/M, Someone (almost) dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-02-28 23:04:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2750399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillThemWithCandy/pseuds/KillThemWithCandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony seriously does not care what he has to do to keep Bruce as an ally and, more importantly, friend. He'd risk his life, offer himself as a rag doll for the Hulk to throw around, anything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Break Me

It wasn't supposed to happen this way.

This wasn't what Tony had wanted!

"I hate you. I hate you, I don't care what you've done for me in the past or what you might do for me in the future, I will hate you forever!" Tony snapped into his Iron Man gear, trusting JARVIS to send the message to the intended recipient.

And, of course, the AI system pulled through. Coulson's voice filled the billionaire's ears,  _"It's not like I wanted this, but I have my orders!"_

Reluctantly, Tony shot off a repulsor blast at who was destroying his already ruined Tower, "This is all your fault. If you hadn't shown up and freakin'  _shot at him_ , none of this would have happened! I am  _so_  going to blow up that stupid helicarrier and make sure you and Fury are on it just so I can hack into the security systems and watch you scream!"

" _Well, perhaps-"_

"Mute!"

This was all S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fault. If they had left Tony and Bruce alone, instead of going after the doctor, Hulk would not be rampaging on them. No, if they had kept their noses out of this, Tony would be showing Bruce his lab by now. He would be showing off his experimental suits and watching Bruce talk to JARVIS with the same little sparkle in his eye that he had when working with him on the helicarrier.

He wouldn't be throwing weapons at his new best friend; that was for sure.

"Come on, Brucey, either follow me or calm down!" Tony groaned, trying to direct the enormous green rage monster away from civilians and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

He took the bait. Hulk leapt after the flying metal man, missing only by an inch or so. Iron Man let out a yelp and shot off, keeping his eyes on the Hulk and never once turning away from him. His plan almost worked, too.

Almost.

Tony'd been able to lead him about half way through Central Park when Hulk finally caught him. With a satisfied growl, the big guy turned and slammed him into the ground. Tony let out a shout of pain when he got the same treatment he was certain that Loki had been given. He was tossed around like a rag doll, pulling up dirt and grass and feeling parts of his suit break off with the sheer force of Hulk's blows.

"JARVIS!" he shouted before hitting the ground once again, his vision blacking for a moment. Luckily, his AI was smart and knew what he wanted. As soon as Tony's vision returned, he pushed a hand at Hulk and a blast fired at him. Hulk growled and dropped him, stumbling back. Tony fell to the ground and began to pull himself up as fast as he could. Which wasn't very fast at all. His suit was drained already and he was in a lot of pain.

This was all S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fault.

Fury would definitely be getting a virus through his systems via Stark Industries. The helicarrier would get a brand new automated vocal system, replaced with a nice female voice that purred lowly small things about how handsome or beautiful a person was and never really did what it was ordered. And he might as well switch up a couple commands. Change the intercom system to an awesome Nyan Cat button that filled all the screens and intercoms with the Pop Tart cat and its song. And he knew he could count on Clint to help him replace their food supply with nothing but overcooked blueberry muffins. He'd have Steve and Natasha bake them, too, since he knew that their baking always ended up in something that could be used as a lethal weapon.

He was torn from his thoughts when a huge green hand grabbed him.

"Oh, this is gonna hurt…"

 

"Bruce, I'm fine, really."

"Tony, you're in a hospital bed!" Bruce told him, "How can you possibly think of that as fine?"

Tony smiled, "Well, I could've let you kill the people who shot you. Those jerks would've deserved it, firing at you for no freakin' reason. When I get out of here I am shoving my foot so far up Cou-"

"Tony."

The billionaire smiled at Bruce, "Yes, darling?"

"You are the most self-destructive man I have ever known in my entire life. There is no way I am staying at your Tower, I'll just end up killing someone."

Tony grabbed Bruce's arm, ignoring the pain that it caused, "No, please. Please don't leave." Tony was actually begging, "Bruce, I promise, I won't let anything bad happen. I can take a few hits, really. It'll probably help with the ego problem Pepper says I have. Please."

Bruce looked at Tony, "I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Then stay and I'll help you learn to deal with the big guy. Maybe you can even learn to like him. Please, Bruce. Please."

The look in Tony's eyes was that of a starved and beaten dog being offered a bit of food. He was scared and hopeful and the look just stabbed straight through Bruce's heart.

"Fine."


	2. Hate Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony does an uh-oh. Bruce doesn't like the results.

"Bruce…"

"No, Tony, go away."

"Bruce, open the door."

"Go away, Tony."

The billionaire pouted, leaning on the door, "Bruuuuuuuuuce!"

"No, Tony."

"I said I'm sorry! If you just let me, I can make the effects go away! It can't be that hard!"

He heard Bruce groan, "Tony, I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now. If I see you, I'd probably punch you in the face."

"Why are you so mean to me?" Tony whined.

"You turned Hulk purple! How could I not be mad at you?!'

"I really didn't think it would have that effect." Tony told him, "Honest."

"Go. Away."

"Isn't purple your favorite color?"

"Tony, right now the giant rage monster inside of my head hates you so much, I want to hit you just to make him stop growling. You turned him purple!"

"I didn't mean to! I was just getting rid of that gross looking rash you got! I told you not to leave me, after all. But  _no_. You had to go and walk around the jungle for a month!" Tony hit his head on the door, "Come on, Bruce, I'm sorry!"

"Go  _away_!" Bruce shouted, hatred and anger filing his voice.

Tony stared at the door for a while, but sighed and gave in, walking away.

 

"You can't stay mad at me forever."

"No, I can't, but the Other Guy can, and you're lucky I've got better control now, or you'd end up with more than a hospital room." Bruce snapped.

Tony groaned, "If it's any consolation, my black eye is throbbing and I have a headache the size of hell." He rubbed a hand through his hair, "You hit hard."

"Thank you. Years with a huge monster made entirely of muscle living inside of you will do that." Bruce bit into his Pop Tart and looked back at his screen, "You're lucky I'm even working with you now."

"Look, I'm trying to apologize and fix it, but I can't do that if you keep ignoring what I'm saying unless it's telling you about the pain I'm in!" Tony snapped. He groaned and walked over to Bruce, moving the screen out of the way and staring him in the eye, "Look. If I let Hulk beat the hell out of me until he's damn and happy, will you let me help? Let me fix my mistake, I'll even cut off the cameras so that no one sees him purple, okay? Just let me get into one of my suits and you can hospitalize me for as long as you want."

The growling in Bruce's head became more like shouts of excitement, echoing through his skull, "I think he likes that idea."

"And you?"

"Anything that gets him to stop growling long enough for me to get some sleep."

Tony smiled, "Good."

"You sure you'll be okay?"

"I don't care if you kill me, Bruce." Tony stated bluntly, "So long as you stop hating me and stay here."


	3. Touch Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony asks for Bruce's help.

"Tony?" Bruce called, "Where are you?"

Silence. It was too creepy for the Tower to sound this quiet, especially when Thor was back.

"JARVIS?"

" _Yes, Master Bruce?"_

"Where  _is_  everyone?"

" _Captain America and Thor have gone out drinking, Master Hawkeye and Miss Natasha are with S.H.E.I.L.D. and Sir is down in his lab."_

"What's he doing down there? I thought he said no experiments today." Bruce slowly made his way down to the lab, sliding open the door to find…

"Damn! Crap! DUM-E, I am going to  _shred_  you! Butterfingers, stop that! Why can't any of my robots do what I want them to?! Damn it all to hell, JARVIS, help me out!"

" _I cannot, Sir."_

"I really need to make you a body. Damn it!" Tony suddenly caught sight of his visitor and turned to Bruce, "Hi, there." He turned and Bruce noticed the Arc Reactor wasn't in his chest. In its place was a large assembly of wires that looked heavy and painful.

Bruce looked at the crazy disarray of the lab, "What are you doing?" He chuckled.

"Okay, so you know how I got the hell beaten out of me in the last attack?"

Bruce did remember. The memory made Hulk purr. It was just a week after Tony had turned the big guy purple and Tony was still in a lot of pain from it. Of course, that was when A.I.M. decided it was a good time to launch a crazy attack that Bruce still couldn't figure out the goal of. Whatever. The fact of the matter was that Tony pulled himself out of a hospital bed and into his suit and fought with them.

"Yeah." Bruce nodded.

"Apparently…" Tony winced, "Something bumped my reactor. Hard. These wires running through me are hooked up to one of my old reactors and are keeping me alive while I try to get these idiots to help me fix the new one. This hurts… God  _dammit_  DUM-E will you just  _stay still_?!"

The whole room froze.

Bruce would have laughed at the display if not for a few small details.

1.) Tony was in a lot of pain already

2.) He should be back at the hospital resting, not in the lab

3.) If that Arc Reactor wasn't fixed, Tony would die.

"You! You're an actually smart person who doesn't want me completely dead as far as I know and has more intelligence than all of my AI's excluding JARVIS." Tony pointed at Bruce, "Can you help me?"

"I'll do what I can."

Tony grinned, "Wonderful. Alright! All I need you to do is reach into my chest and fix what's broken. I'll walk you through it, don't worry."

Bruce walked over and rolled up his sleeves.

"Never before have I thought a scrawny guy looked like such a blessing." Tony jumped up onto a table and laid back, "You ready?"

"As ready as I'm going to be."

Tony grabbed Bruce's hand, "Promise me one thing."

"What?"

"When your hand is in there, do  _not_ , for the love of all things made of science, Hulk out."

Bruce smiled, "I'll do my best."

Tony sighed and closed his eyes, "Okay, I'm going to disconnect. When I do, I'll most likely go into cardiac arrest. You'll have about three minutes to just smooth out everything with this…" He reached over and grabbed… what the hell was that? Probably something Tony's made just for this job, "and get that Reactor in my chest. That way I'll be able to actually fix the better one without having to lug around a freakin' car battery."

Bruce reached over and lifted the reactor, setting it down next to Tony's head.

"Ready?"

Tony nodded and lifted his hands, carefully removing the wires from his chest. It was one of the most painful things he'd ever felt. He clenched his eyes shut as soon as it was done and set his head down. Before he'd even touched the table again, Bruce was getting to work on repairing the sleeve for the reactor.

' _Don't think about it, Tony. Think of something else. Booze. Lots of lovely, delicious booze. God, can Thor get drunk? Hehe, Bruce is inside me. I wonder what Captain Spandex is like drunk. Is he a virgin? God, I hate him. I hate him so much, it's his fault my dad didn't pay attention to me as a kid. I wish I actually meant that. I can't blame Steve, it's the old man's fault and his alo-'_ "Holy crap!"

Bruce looked at him, "Done."

"God, really? Jesus, Bruce, you are amazing, I could kiss you. But I really want to make the pain stop so I'm just going to go and fix my heart now. Wanna help? Of course you do. Let's go!"

Bruce chuckled to himself and followed Tony over to where he'd set up the vibranium-powered Arc Reactor.

Tony watched as Bruce's face lit up in awe. The realization hit him that he was actually going to work with this, to be able to touch it and see how it works.

"God, that look." Tony chuckled, "Please don't ever leave, Bruce. No one else appreciates science like you do."


	4. Hold Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Reza steals some Spidey villains and lets the Avengers beat them up.

"Bruce! Please, open your eyes." Tony begged, lifting the naked and battered doctor up, "Bruce!"

Bruce didn't respond. And Tony couldn't tell if he was breathing.

"Bruce, no. You promised you wouldn't leave. Bruce…"

He gently set the doctor down and stood, shooting off back into the fight that Bruce had been torn out of. He'd been shot, probably with an adrenaline nullifying type weapon, and had turned from Hulk to Bruce half way in a thirty-foot fall.

He was dead.

Bruce Banner was dead.

Thor grabbed the bright red, white, and blue shield from its place and tossed it back to its owner, who let it slide back onto his wrist like a glove. Steve looked so much more natural like this, in uniform and amongst battle. This was where he belonged.

Whiplash growled and glanced back at Mindblast. The girls ran at the blondes, and the pair braced for the attack.

It never came.

When Steve looked back from behind his shield, the pair was gone. He looked at Thor, who was watching…

Iron Man. He tossed the girls down, knocking them into Bloodlust, who shrieked in shock. He turned, leaving the three of them, caught off guard and slightly confused, to Hawkeyes and Black Widow, who easily wrapped them up.

"Where is he going?" the Captain asked.

"After Knockout." Thor grabbed Steve and used Mjilnor to follow the armored billionaire.

They found Iron Man and Knockout on top of a nearby building. Wait, wasn't this where Hulk had been?

What had happened to the big green guy?

"You  _whore_!" Iron Man shouted, grabbing Knockout by her head and slamming her down into the ground. The girl slammed her knees into his stomach, but he got in a repulsor blast before stumbling back. "You disgusting piece of shit, how  _dare you_?!" He ran at her, going and punching her straight in the face. She fell back, and Iron Man followed her, grabbing her and lifting her up before throwing her down again, "I should  _kill you_! Your life is worth nothing compared to what you've taken!"

That was what made Thor and Captain America intervene. The Captain leapt in front of the broken girl, using his shield to stop Iron Mans attacks while Thor grabbed him from behind, pulling him back and away.

"Tony! What are you doing?!" Steve shouted, "We lock up the bad guys, we don't kill them!"

"Let me go!" Iron Man shouted, "I'm going to murder that fucking bitch!  _She killed Bruce_!"

"What?" Thor stared at the billionaire in shock and horror, "You… you cannot be serious."

Tony stopped fighting Thor's grip. To know it was one thing, but to actually say that Bruce was dead… it was something much different. He fell limp in the gods arms and began to sob.

"He's gone… he's gone, he's dead, oh,  _God_ , why?!" He pulled his hands from Thor, who had gone still, and ripped off his helmet, taking in fresh air and falling to the ground. The gravel beneath him quickly darkened with his tears and the mere sight of Tony, someone Steve looked up to and admired, falling so low.

"There you are!"

Clint and Natasha had made their way up there.

"Hey… where's the big guy?" Clint asked, "I haven't seen or heard him for a little bit… did he… did he take off?"

Thor shook his head slowly, "I fear… that Doctor Banner has been declared deceased…"

Natasha froze, "What? That's not possible. Hulk doesn't die."

Tony pulled himself into a seated position, "He does when he's not Hulk…"

No one could bring themselves to disturb him. No one wanted to lift him or try to cover him…

He looked broken. Bones were obviously broken from the fall and he looked a bloody mess.

Tony had stripped out of his suit rather violently, as if it was Iron Man's fault that Bruce was dead. And that was how he felt. He should've been watching the big guy. He could have caught Bruce. He could've gotten him to safety.

He ripped off the last part of his gauntlet and threw it as hard as he could in his weakened state. He was a wreck. Tears streamed down his face and his clothes were already wrinkled and dirty. Even the glow of his Arc Reactor seemed dimmer.

Slowly, Tony slunk over to Bruce and fell to his knees. Carefully, he pulled the doctor into his arms and sobbed. No one said anything. Even the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that had shown up were silent.

"I'm sorry…" Tony choked out, "Bruce, I'm so sorry."

Coulson made his way over, putting a comforting hand on Clint's shoulder.

"I should've saved you. I should've been with you. I'm so sorry…"

"Tony!" Phil shouted, "Oh, my God!"

Everyone looked at the agent.

"What?"

"He… he's alive!"

Tony paused and looked down at the broken figure in his arms, noticed the subtle rise and fall of his chest, and his tears began anew.


	5. Kiss Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce gets better. Also, cute Team stuff.

"I never thought I would see the day that Tony Stark refused to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. premises." Nick chuckled, "How is he, Phil?"

"Bruce is recovering." The agent smiled, "He flat lined a few times a couple days ago, but I think the Hulk has begun to start healing him now."

"And Stark?"

Phil sighed, "He hasn't left the medical ward since they cleared Bruce yesterday. He's barely eating and I'm pretty sure he's not sleeping much, either. He won't talk to anyone and won't let anyone touch him."

"When do you think Doctor Banner will wake up?"

"Going by how fast he's healing, maybe two days." Phil sighed, "Miss Potts has been calling like crazy and none of the Avengers are really doing much besides eating, sleeping, and visiting the doctor."

"They're growing attached." Nick sighed, "So, what are the odds that when Doctor Banner wakes up, we'll have to clear the halls and warn everyone to stay out of the way of rampant Super humans?"

"One hundred percent, Sir."

 

Tony had been in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s medical ward for two weeks. At least. Bruce had been cleared from surgery four days ago and Tony refused to leave him.

The billionaire was currently seated in one of those extremely uncomfortable chairs they keep around for visitors, slumped over onto Bruce's bed, his head resting on the doctor's legs like a pillow, fast asleep. One arm was stretched out across Bruce's knees, the other fell limply under him. His hair was a disheveled mess and his usually clean, perfect beard had grown at all sorts of odd rates and he was sure he looked like a hobo or something.

His Arc Reactor hummed lowly in the quiet of the empty medical ward. It was really late and everyone was either asleep, or on the bridge, working.

Bruce grumbled lightly and let his eyes flutter open. He felt a slight weight on his legs, heavier on the right than the left, and it was pretty dark…

' _Oh, God, I'm dead…'_

He shifted his hands, making sure he could still move in the afterlife. He could. His hands lifted and he…

Whatever the weight was on his legs, he'd accidentally moved it, and now it was completely gone.

"Bruce!"

A pair of arms were around him, a familiar voice chanting things that he couldn't quite understand. What was going on?

"Am I dead?"

"By some crazy weird miracle, you're not. You scared the hell out of me. Don't ever do that to me again. I cried in front of everyone because of you. Do you know how damaging that is to my reputation? You're just lucky there were no news people there or I'd kill you right now." Tony pulled back, grinning down at Bruce with a smile that he'd never seen before. It was full of love and caring and relief and everything that normally wouldn't be connected with Tony Stark.

"Tony…" Bruce wrapped his arms around the billionaire, his muscles sore from lack of use, "Oh, God! Tony!"

"It's okay, big guy, I'm here."

Bruce pulled back from the hug and, for a reason he would later describe as fate, kissed him. And Tony did not hesitate in returning it. They pushed against one another's mouths, prying them open and pushing for anything that would confirm that, yes, this was real.

After what seemed like forever, they pulled away, both of them panting for air.

"I can't believe you're alive." Tony whispered, "You don't know how happy I am to hear your voice and feel you moving under my touch. Don't ever scare me like that again. I'm getting you a headset so you can yell out for help. One that the Big Guy can't destroy. Bruce… Bruce, Bruce, Bruce… don't ever leave me again."

"Tony…" Bruce grinned and kissed him again, this one no less urgent and needy.

Tony climbed up into Bruce's bed, and they fell asleep holding each other.

 

"Get up, Stark!"

The pair started, knocking against each other painfully. The billionaire groaned and tried to roll away, forgetting that this wasn't home, and fell to the floor.

"Bruce, you're okay!" Natasha sobbed, hugging him, "I can't believe it! I'm so happy!"

"If you ever pull that crap again, I will not hesitate to shoot you in the face." Clint snapped.

"I missed you!" Thor cried and wrapped both him and Natasha in his arms.

"I can't even begin to describe how happy I am to see you, Bruce." Steve grinned.

"I don't know whose foot is on me, but if you don't get it off, there will be Pop Tart Cat consequences for everyone!" Tony shouted.

Natasha moved her foot and the playboy pulled himself to his feet. He smiled and pushed everyone else aside, pulling Bruce into yet another kiss.

"What was that for?" Bruce asked.

"Because this time I can see that you're okay."


	6. Love Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have slipped in my obsession with The Beatles.

" _Good morning, Sir. It is seven thirty-six A.M., Wednesday, June twenty-seventh. The temperature outside is twenty-five point four degrees Celsius with a forty-two percent chance of rain. Also, Doctor Banner is down in the main kitchen preparing breakfast."_

Tony grinned, "Thanks, JARVIS."

He slid out of bed; grabbing a random shirt from his closet and pulling it on before heading down to see what Bruce was making.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty." Bruce smiled when he entered the room, "Bacon?"

"You need to ask?"

Bruce chuckled and quickly made up a plate of eggs, bacon, and sausage, setting it down at the eating ledge in front of the sink. Tony sat down and grinned, "You're a saint, Bruce."

Bruce smiled and made up a second plate for himself. He quickly cleaned up everything, placing the pans in the dishwasher and walking over to sit next to Tony.

"How'd you sleep?" Tony asked.

"Like a baby. I can't believe you gave me that room. I can't believe I took it! You convince me into things I never thought I'd do."

Tony grinned, "I love you."

"What?"

"I love you." Tony told him again, "Completely, utterly, and insanely. I mean, I am honestly prepared to marry you and adopt kids and stuff. Hell, we can make Thor the uncle just for laughs."

Bruce couldn't believe this, "You… you're serious. Oh, wow… I…"

"It's cool if you don't feel the same yet. But now that I've finally gotten it out there, I'm going to keep telling you. It really feels awesome to say it."

Bruce smiled and leaned over, pushing his lips to Tony's, "Well, it's good to know."

 

"Tony?"

"Yes, Brucey?"

"What happened to AC/DC and Black Sabbath?"

The billionaire shrugged, "Pepper says that I need to listen to slower music sometimes to clear my head. I don't get the appeal, it's really slowing me down."

"Maybe because this is Paul McCartney's love song album?"

"It's called Kisses on the Bottom." Tony snickered, "Pepper bought it for me for Valentine's Day."

Bruce chuckled and shook his head, "Why this album? You could've picked anything else and you pick Paul McCartney?"

"Paul McCartney is a genius. I don't believe any of that 'Paul is Dead' crap, either. It's a good album, I must admit." Tony set down whatever he was working on and walked over to Bruce, wrapping his arms around Bruce's waist, "I love you."

"Thank you." Bruce smiled and twisted around, pushing a kiss to Tony's lips. "I love when you tell me you love me."

Tony grinned and let Bruce kiss him once again, this time a bit more passionately. Bruce smiled into the embrace, uncaring if it messed up what they were doing. Tony never minded. He loved making Bruce smile. The man had attempted suicide on multiple occasions and almost died once before, to see him smiling was like a blessing from a God he didn't believe in.

"You know, we have work to do."

"It can wait."


	7. But please, don't leave me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final installment.

Bruce gripped his hair, trying to cause a new pain to distract him from what he was already feeling.

Tony was mad at him. Tony was completely, and utterly  _pissed off_. And it was Bruce's fault.

Bruce had gone for just for a few days to go study in Africa for a little while. He'd had the cell phone Tony'd made for him, he had a tracker that he'd gladly accepted and attached to his shoe so Tony could follow him, he had everything just so that Tony knew he wasn't going to leave.

It was his fault that Ross had found him. He'd gotten so caught up in the safe feeling of Tony watching him, he forgot about danger. It was his fault that Hulk had made an appearance. It was his fault his shoes were destroyed, the cell phone lost, and he was forced to stumbled along the foliage in shredded clothes with a broken spirit.

He sat in an empty hotel room in Rwanda, dressed in some of Tony's clothes, sobbing silently to himself.

Tony hated him. He was sure of it. He knew that Bruce and Hulk got along better. He knew that Hulk could've easily gotten him somewhere that Tony could've found him. It was his fault that all of this happened, how could Tony  _not_  hate him?

He heard the door open and a pair of shoes fumble to the ground. He pulled his knees up and buried his face in them. Tony wouldn't want to see him, so he might as well hide as best he cou-

"Bruce? Bruce, what's wrong?" Tony quickly made his way over to the bed, placing a hand on Bruce's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Tony! I'm so sorry, I screwed up so bad!" Bruce sobbed, "I'm so sorry!"

Tony's hands lifted Bruce's face up away from his knees, "Bruce, I don't blame you. It's my fault for not staying with you. It's Ross's fault for being a douchebag. But none of it is your fault."

Bruce stared at him in awe, "You… you don't?"

"Of course not."

Bruce wrapped his arms around Tony and held him close, calming himself down as much as possible.

"Oh, poor Brucey. All that self-hatred is hard to get rid of, isn't it?" Tony smiled and, for the first time since the medical ward on the Helicarrier, took the initiative and kissed Bruce. The doctor clutched at Tony's shirt, returning the kiss with just as much as energy and need as Tony.

"I love you."

Tony blinked, "Really?"

"I love you. I love you so much." Bruce whimpered, peppering kisses all across Tony's face, "Tony, you are so perfect, I love you so much…"

Tony grinned, "Thank you, Bruce. I love you, too." Tony pushed another kiss to Bruce's mouth, "I'll go call Pep-"

Bruce tightened his grip, "No. Don't leave me. Please, don't leave me."

Tony smiled and closed his eyes, "Alright. I'll call Pepper later."

"Thank you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! This is one of my older stories, but I've been kinda fond of it. Thanks to everyone for reading!


End file.
